How do you power a Raymarine C70 off the boat?

D

DaleM

Member
Aug 5, 2009
690
Mt Airy, MD
Boat Info
340 Sundancer
Engines
Twin 8.1 Horizons
I would like to be able to play with my C70 when it's off the boat. Does anyone know how this can powered off a 12v battery to use it in the house?
 
Dale, I'm trying to get the same answer for a C80. I imagine the power hook up is similar. Follow the thread Raymarine C-80 course plotting on PC , or if you get the answer I'll see it later.
I see your at Gunpowder, I'm across the bay at Great Oak. Nice area to cruise!
 
jcoll, I'm considering just purchasing an additional power cable but I want to know what the wiring would involve. Hopefully someone will chime in and we can both learn :)

I bought my boat at Great Oak - had a great time over Labor Day as we spent the weekend on her. Great place to have fun. I do enjoy the north bay area!
 
While I haven't specifically wired your exact model - it's usually just a black and red wire. Nothing special. You could leave the wire ends bare to attach to a portable battery pack's jumper cables. Or, use a $5 accessory (cigarette) plug so you can plug it directly into a 12v outlet.
 
Thanks Lazy Daze, the problem is there are three pins. I'm not sure which are which. I haven't found a lot of decent information about the pinout on Raymarine's site (yet).
 
Dale,
I thought about getting another power cable too. Can you buy just that cable and, if so where? It would make for a nicer set up rather than jumper wires and aligator clips.
 
I think I saw the cabled offered online for about $20. Just google your model and add power cable. I'm just more curious now because if it's a straight +/- type connection then I have enough stuff laying around at home that will let me make push-on connectors easy enough. I just don't want to reverse anything and fry the plotter.
 
We're in the same boat (no pun intended). I'll probably get the cable just to play it safe. I imagine there's reverse polarity protection in the unit but I'd rather not find out the hard way.
 
Understood.... unfortunately it's the electrical engineer in me that won't let me walk away from this :)
 
DaleM said:
jcoll, I'm considering just purchasing an additional power cable but I want to know what the wiring would involve. Hopefully someone will chime in and we can both learn :)

I bought my boat at Great Oak - had a great time over Labor Day as we spent the weekend on her. Great place to have fun. I do enjoy the north bay area!
Click to expand...

Dale, Why bother? You will have better luck with it on the boat and the GPS antenna connected as well. It is really not that much to it, and I really don’t see the need in buying an extra connector just to “play with it” outside the boat. As an “Electrical Engineer” you can pick the thing up fast enough before you head out.
 
Consider it more of "something to do". When I had it on the boat it made sense from a user interface. I just noticed it sitting on my desk and home and just wondered if there would be a way to fiddle around with it. I wouldn't need the antenna for what I was going to do.

Bill you guys getting thawed out up there? I'm hearing the grumblings of freezing rain here real soon....
 
Dale, the extra cable that you get will likely have un-terminated wires at the end opposite the plug so that would make it easy. But, if you're looking to hook it up without buying an extra cable, the only thing I could say is to refer to the manual. But, it sounds like you've already looked there and their "wiring diagram" isn't specific enough?

I suppose you could peel back the outer covering of the cable on the boat - just enough to get a probe into the red wire, then use your meter to check for continuity at the plug end.. taking note to which of the three connectors it is. Repeat for the black.
 
DaleM said:
Consider it more of "something to do". When I had it on the boat it made sense from a user interface. I just noticed it sitting on my desk and home and just wondered if there would be a way to fiddle around with it. I wouldn't need the antenna for what I was going to do.

Bill you guys getting thawed out up there? I'm hearing the grumblings of freezing rain here real soon....
Click to expand...

I did the same thing several years ago when I got a GPS for our first boat for Christmas. Played with it for several hours maybe, and put it back in the box till spring.

Do you have Radar as well? My C80 has GPS, Radar, and Satellite Weather, plus I hooked the GPS to my Smartcraft and Northstar Radio with the NEMA interface.

Snow is melting slowly, the back half of the marina is passable, but still maybe 8 inches of snow back there.
 
Sounds like you have the set up! Steve said you're more reliable then Channel 2 news :) He was up yesterday to check out his drive and said all looked well.

I just have the GPS right now. I may get radar down the road but I'm just a plain jane set up for the moment. I like the idea of the seatalk interfaces to the engines too.

We might make it to 30 today. I hope it gets higher - my mother in law has bad drywall damage due to ice damming.

Lazy Daze, you hit it. I can't find anything on the power cable that gives a good reference. The boat is an hour away and all wrapped up otherwise I'd consider going the DVM route to figure out pins. I'm going to go back through the manual again since I'm sitting here at work really not wanting to be looking at what I should be doing....
 
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DaleM said:
Lazy Daze, you hit it. I can't find anything on the power cable that gives a good reference. The boat is an hour away and all wrapped up otherwise I'd consider going the DVM route to figure out pins. I'm going to go back through the manual again since I'm sitting here at work really not wanting to be looking at what I should be doing....
Click to expand...

This is only a guess, but I'd venture that the third pin is either simply a locating pin, or is an "always hot" supply, while one of the other two is switched. I know, that doesn't really help :smt101
 
Ok here it is from the RM support email:

Response (Chuck Anderson)12/23/2009 04:04 PMIn looking at the cable end-on, the first pin to the right of the plug's indexing key is battery positive (red). Moving in a counter clockwise direction the remaining pins are battery negative (black) and chassis ground (bare conductor).
 
I'm surprised they got back to you so quickly. Good deal!

Next, you can get another GPS antenna and hook it up in your car!:smt001

Toys are fun!!!
 
Man I never even went there but you took it to a whole new level! Forget the car. Now all I need to do is get a RAM mount that will work on my Shadow Sabre and I'm set!! This will be almost as big as my instrument cluster on the bike itself!

Long Live Toys! (Especially this time of year!)
 
Dale,
Just to be sure I don't let the smoke out of the box, if I read the description right from Chuck at RM, when I'm looking at the back of the monitor where the cable goes in, the battery positive would be to the left of the index key. Is that right?
 
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